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How to open an exclusive wine club’s doors

LettieTeague

Freemasons are said to be among the most secretive societies in the world. They have many mysterious rituals, special symbols and words, and at least 12 different handshakes — only some of which can be seen on YouTube. Some wine societies are almost as secretive, although their members are less likely to employ a special handshake than they are to break into song.

Roman Muradov/Wall Street Journal

When it comes to new members, the most important question isn't even about wine but compatibility.

Two of the most exclusive wine societies, La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin and the Commanderie de Bordeaux, have special songs that accompany an evening of drinking. The Tastevin tune is a traditional Burgundy chanson, while the Commanderie song, “Toujours Bordeaux,” is a more recent work.

Created in 1998 by Eric Vogt, the music-loving maître of the Boston Commanderie chapter, the song won a prize at a competition in Bordeaux. (The prize was Vogt’s “weight in Bordeaux,” or 10 cases of wine, although Vogt maintained that the prize committee erred “on the generous side.”)

The Commanderie ditty is a fairly rousing number and, save for a few references to the region’s major varietals and great châteaux, it might well have been my college drinking song. On the other hand, the group I saw singing “Toujours” at the French ambassador’s residence in Washington a few weeks ago didn’t look like anyone I knew in college. The members, mostly in their 60s, were an accomplished group of women and men with careers in government, law, banking and finance.

I’d been invited to attend the Commanderie dinner, or “parlement,” by its grand maître (national director), Angus Smith, and Neal Borden, the maître of the Washington chapter. They were inducting a new member to the chapter and Smith thought it would be a good time for me to see the Commanderie in action. The Washington chapter was especially open and friendly, said Smith — unlike the other two chapters he had first proposed but whose membership had turned him down.

The Commanderie de Bordeaux aux États-Unis d’Amérique, founded in 1957, is an organization of men and women who love, buy and drink the wines of Bordeaux. There are more than 30 Commanderie chapters in the country and around 1,100 members nationwide, although new chapters and members are added frequently. (A Palm Beach, Fla., Commanderie chapter opened earlier this year, and a new chapter is to open in Charleston, S.C., sometime next year.)

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